Creative Director

NHS Organ Donation

Following the success of our 2016 ‘Better Left Unsaid’ campaign for NHS Blood and Transplant, we were invited back to raise awareness of altruistic living kidney donation.

About a third of all kidney transplants carried out in the UK are from living donors, a healthy person able to lead a normal life with one working kidney. Last year 100 people donated a kidney anonymously to a stranger, but with over 5,000 people on the waiting list and 300 dying each year before they receive one, more donors are needed.

At the heart of our #ShareYourSpare campaign was a comedy song composed by Philip Pope and performed by stand up Alex Smith. Played out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the run up to Valentine’s Day it was accompanied by spoofs of several famous album covers.

The film was also chosen as Campaign's Pick of the Week.

Unseen – Paper Chains

Working with a number of the UK’s top illustrators, Aesop has devised a unique campaign that uses paper chain strips to illustrate stories of four individuals – all victims of modern slavery in the UK.

“From a distance the paper chain designs appear traditionally festive,” explains Stephen Lynch, Creative Director, Aesop Agency, “but on closer inspection the ‘unseen’ stories reveal themselves. We all have memories of making paper chains as kids – we felt it was the perfect analogy for focusing attention on the unseen victims of modern slavery”.

The stories depicted represent an estimated 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK.

Commenting on the campaign Andrew Wallis OBE, CEO of Unseen says: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Aesop Agency and some of the UK’s top illustrators to make the hidden nature of modern slavery in the UK seen. Often this crime and the exploitation of people is hidden in plain sight and the psychological chains that hold people in situations of modern slavery are very real. The UK’s Modern Slavery Helpline run by Unseen allows: victims to call safely for help and assistance; the public to call with tip-offs and concerns and business and statutory agencies to seek support and assistance.”

The Unseen paper chains (3ft in length when put together) are available to buy exclusively here – with all monies raised going to Unseen. You can also donate to the charity and download the designs. Once you’ve bought or downloaded yours, share your support with the hashtag #UnseenChristmas.

Freixenet Ice

In the last decade affordable fizz has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity, sales of prosecco surpassing that of Champagne in the UK for the first time. Another member of the sparkling wine category, Freixenet, decided to capitalize on this trend with the launch of their first new Cava in over a century – ICE.

Cava hasn’t been embraced in the same way prosecco has. In fact some prosecco drinkers discount it as ‘old-fashioned’ or ‘what my mum would drink’.

Ouch.

As a result our challenge was not only to launch the striking new bottle design and communicate the perfect serve, but to win over the hearts and minds of young urban professionals – independent thinkers looking for something new.

Our solution was inspired by one of the greatest independent minds of all time, Pablo Picasso. Carrying the line ‘A New Dimension in Cava’, we created a fully integrated, cubist-themed campaign showcasing the bottle, the over-ice serve, and drinking occasion.

The launch teed off with a year-long partnership with crazy golf club Swingers and an exclusive Stylist cover wrap. This was followed by a nationwide print and digital billboard campaign, supported by social, online, and point of sale at both on and off-trade.

Ballantine's Depth of Character

Your character is formed from life experience – it’s what makes you unique. With a rich history of crafting prestige whiskies, the same could be said of Ballantine’s.

Our challenge was to come up with a compelling way of bringing the Ballantine’s story to life.

The answer – a global interactive tasting experience, the likes of which the whisky industry has never seen before. With our custom-designed digital table, chapters in the story are unlocked by placing prestige bottles and specially selected props onto the surface. And the really cool part? The table acts as a giant touchscreen. This allows guests to engage with interactive challenges during the tasting. 360° wall projections were also beamed across the room, transporting guests from wherever they are in the world to the four corners of Scotland. The finishing touch to a truly immersive story.

To enhance the campaign, we also created a global toolkit including invites to the experience, gift boxes and set design. See the Stay True Experience in action by watching the video.

NHS Organ Donation (2016)

NHS Blood and Transplant asked us to come up with a Valentine’s Day campaign aimed at getting organ donors to share their decision with their loved ones.

In England the next of kin are currently required to confirm organ donor consent. This results in a significant number of blocked donors, with the UK registering one of the lowest approval rates. The ‘Better Left Unsaid’ campaign, a suite of three humorous films, draws attention to the issue and encourages people to make their families aware that they are registered donors.

Shot in a restaurant setting, they are a montage of witty, surreal, awkward and laugh-out-loud funny interactions between couples – content that sparks a conversation and that people will want to share.

Each film ends with the line ‘share your organ donation decision with a loved one this Valentine’s’.

The campaign gained over a million organic views and was shortlisted for a prestigious Cannes Lion award.

Birra Moretti – The Moretti Table

Birra Moretti was struggling to get its voice heard in the crowded UK beer market. We used the brand’s authentic heritage to tell the story of the real Italy.

A world away from the fast cars and couture collections of its flashy main competitor, the Birra Moretti tale revolves around the humble table – where Italian life comes together.

SOCIAL EXPERIMENTSFirst, we tempted office workers away from their desks with the promise of an alfresco lunch around The Moretti Table. This social experiment saw harried Londoners rediscover the simple pleasures of life – Italian style. With Pizza in the Piazza, the City was once again introduced to the lost art of communal dining.

ITALY LIVEFor the final chapter of the Moretti story we brought Tuscany to Soho via a live satellite link, where diners were invited to share in the authentic customs and heartfelt values of the real Italy. With the Moretti Table table taking centre stage, we used it to celebrate what’s really essential in life: great food, great company and great beer.

Marston's Pedigree

The one that got away.

We all have a pitch that we think we should have won. With me it was this one for Marston's Pedigree. They were looking for a new brand idea that could flex across the on and off trade as well as some key trading periods throughout the year including Father's Day and cricket season while maintaining quality cues and the Burton sense of humour. We thought we'd nailed it but the client stuck with their incumbent and this work went back in the drawer.

Tic Tac – Find a Fiver

Tic Tac asked us to create an on-pack promotion that would drive sales and build their brand. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to be brave and do something a little different. It was time to give Tic Tac fans a little hit of happy.

So, we looked to our target audience and asked them what they thought was the ultimate mood lifter. The resounding answer: finding a fiver in your pocket. So we designed a promotion that gave each and every Tic Tac fan the chance to win £5 instantly, or guaranteed £5 discounts at Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Cineworld and more.

To raise awareness of the promotion we created two TV ads featuring Timothy, an oddball character who ‘gives himself five’ when he hears about the deal. If fans wanted more self-fiving action, they could play the #Self5 Excuse Generator game, which included bonus footage and the option to create personalised self five animations.

The strength of this idea meant that Find a Fiver became Tic Tac’s biggest integrated campaign to date, with 17 million packs supported by £1.7 million marketing spend.

The campaign picked up Silver in the Best On Pack Promo category at the IPM awards.

Chambord – Follow the Flamingo

Chambord wanted to encourage a quirky-yet-chic target audience to choose its liqueur both at the bar and in the supermarket aisles.

We identified that sales of bubbles were on the rise – if we could convert 1 in 50 glasses of fizz enjoyed in 2015 into a Chambord Royale, that would amount to 50k cases of Chambord sold.

To tempt bar-goers into the glamorously absurd world of Chambord we created ‘Follow the Flamingo’, an on-trade promotion that built on the brand’s ‘Because No Reason’ positioning and embraced the ‘BOF!’ attitude of the Chambord woman.

We invited consumers to upload a picture of their Chambord Royale, tag the bar that served it and finish with the #FollowTheFlamingo hashtag. The prize for enthusiastic flamingo followers and the bar staff serving them was a trip to Chambord’s spiritual home, Paris.

We helped things along with a pinker-than-life bar prop: a cardboard flamingo cut-out, the neck of which was designed to curve perfectly around the new custom Chambord Flamingo Glass.

A detailed retail toolkit embodying the ethos of ‘Because No Reason’ helped stores to nudge shoppers into upgrading their sparkles to a Chambord Royale. Physical and digital media targeted around fizz-friendly times such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas demonstrated boldly how to create the classic serve.

Allez!

Foster's Comedy

The Glenlivet

The single malt scotch whisky category can be intimidating, with its dizzying array of islands, highlands, lowlands and glens. The Glenlivet came to us for a helping hand in elevating its name above other malts.

The Glenlivet brand has history and heritage in spades, but our challenge was to make it relevant to a new crop of ‘single malt ready’ drinkers. So, rather than simply relying on the brand’s provenance, we scoured the archives to find stories from The Glenlivet’s past that had the power to intrigue a new audience. Stories like that of the distillery’s founder, George Smith, and his tendency to sleep with two loaded pistols under his bed. At every turn we uncovered a theme of an irrepressible spirit that always finds its way.

Having identified the heart of the narrative we set about bringing it to life, starting with a brand film and website. The site enables curious whisky fans to learn about The Glenlivet’s history, pick out their preferred expressions and sign up to become a ‘Guardian of The Glenlivet’.

To cement loyalty among our newfound Guardians, we created an event toolkit for markets around the world to engage and reward their local members.

Finally, we knew that for single malt aficionados, a pilgrimage to The Glenlivet Distillery is a must. So we updated the Visitors’ Centre in the heart of Speyside to reflect the brand’s new, richer narrative. Guardians who make the trek can now immerse themselves in stories, see the very pistols George Smith slept with, and enjoy a wee dram of the good stuff.

Crabtree & Evelyn

Crabtree & Evelyn brought us a bright array of Christmas packaging that needed a touch of storytelling to make it sparkle.

Crabtree & Evelyn products are made using some of the world’s finest natural ingredients and botanicals – but at Christmas time, they put a little something extra into their creation too: Magic!

So we created a campaign that brought their festive packaging to life and inspired consumers to believe in the magic of Christmas once again. Our campaign throws open the doors to the brand’s festive workshop, giving gift buyers a little peek at the wonder inside.

From the robin’s song that inspires Crabtree & Evelyn workers, to the snowman on the conveyor who turns snowflakes into icing for cookies, every single product in the Christmas range has a magical story to tell.

These product stories were brought to life in spellbinding press ads and enchanting window displays. The campaign was supported by digital and social content, and the #Ibelieve hashtag invited the audience to share the story online.

Tic Tac – Happy Rewards

Hot on the heels of our popular Find a Fiver campaign, we built on the discovery that rewards are a big deal to our target audience.

We developed Happy Rewards, an on-pack promotion that allowed fans to collect codes from Tic Tac packs in order to get free stuff. Consumers registered on the tictachappy.com microsite, entered their unique URN codes and unlocked levels to claim bigger prizes.

Tic Tac fans loved the promotion, and many thousands rushed to enter their details for a chance to win. Collecting two points unlocked the chance to play Flight of the Tic Tac, a brightly hued and addictive game for desktop and mobile. The game went down a treat – it’s been played more than 17,500 times to date.

A promotion this happy needed a special pack to show it off. We designed a bright, bold look and feel to capture the spirit of Happy Rewards and Tic Tac. A cheeky smiling face took centre stage, surrounded by a vibrant pattern reflecting Tic Tac’s unique flavour combinations.

We then supported the promotion with happy-go-lucky 10” VOD ads as well as vines, digital banners and six sheet posters.